Join us this Friday, Feb 1st for our monthly First Friday Gallery Crawl and Food Truck Friday. Below you will find a variety of details happening this Friday but please know that restaurants and other shops are open during Gallery Crawl and you can pick up a South End Guide at the Food Truck Friday lot to do your own exploring. Enjoy!

SPECIAL FEATURES

This Gallery Crawl we are hosting the first ever Free Gallery Crawl Walking Tour. You do not have to be part of this tour to enjoy the Gallery Crawl but we put together this free experience to help give you some behind the scenes info on the galleries, shops and South End as well as give you a chance to hit up the popular Food Truck Friday. We currently have 85 people registered for the Gallery Crawl Walking Tour so we are not taking any more reservations but we do have a waiting list so please sign up for the waiting list.

Food Truck Friday has become one of South End’s most popular events. Hosted every Friday for the past year (closed only one Friday due to freezing rain/sleet) on the corner of Camden and Park Ave, Food Truck Friday has become a culinary adventure. Trucks participating this Friday are as follows: Herban Legand, The Tin Kitchen, Turkey and…, Autoburger & Fry Guys, Sticks & Cones, Napolitanos and Southern Cake Queen. As a reminder, outside beer and wine is not permitted; however, you can purchase beverages from Common Market or Phat Burrito, bring unopened to the lot and consume with your Food Truck dinner. Some tables are provided but feel free to bring your own chairs or blankets. We Recycle!

Gallery Exhibitions for February

Lark and Key Gallery – After five years, two locations, one shaky economy, not sure how many times we’ve been mistaken for a locksmith, a multitude of matches made with artwork and homes, and a few headaches – coupled with numerous moments of self doubt, we’re still here thanks to you!

We ring in the new year with FLOURISH – a mixed media exhibition that celebrates our love of nature. Gallery artists Dawn Rentz and Amy Sanders will be featured along with guests artists Mirabel Angel, Marcy Baker, Julie Guyot, Kristin Kieffer and Jen Swearington (Jennythreads). Each one draws upon the natural world as well as textiles for inspiration. Expect influences such as vast landscapes, botanical imagery, quilting and art nouveau illustrations.

Tailor-made for the gray days of February, Ciel Gallery presents Color! featuring the work of Tina Alberni and Wanda Hanson, as well as Ciel partners.Cuban-American Alberni’s mixed media paintings are heavily influenced by her third-world living experiences, resulting in the series Urban Isolation. Growing up in South America and Miami, Alberni explores the current condition of overcrowding coupled with an increasing dependence on virtual worlds in place of human connections.

“With this work, I hope to reawaken a connection between our own isolation, social interactions, chaotic lives and our sense of belonging,” says Alberni. “I try to reel in sensations of smells, textures, peeling paint, impacting colors and personal sensations that are perhaps forgotten or lost because we’re so busy with our urban lives. The ultimate goal is to work out the general disconnect.”Alberni’s trademark is deeply layered work combined with saturated color. “Color has a way of healing my body and soul,” says Alberni, citing Quechua weavings and textiles, extensive travels, nature and the stories of life as her inspiration. Alberni received a BS degree in Art Education with concentration in printmaking, and spent several years leading the Art Department at a prestigious school in Florida before relocating to Charlotte. Her work has been exhibited widely and appears in collections worldwide, and she continues to work with numerous multi-cultural groups.Fiber artist Wanda Hanson’s creations are pure celebrations of color, pattern, and texture. At 72, Illinois-born Hanson just can’t stop. When asked about the inspiration for her work, Hanson states, “For me, creating a quilt or fiber piece is less about communicating some deep inner thought, and more a celebration of color, pattern, texture and joy. My communication is sensory.” Sensory and archetypal; Hanson’s daily blog exuberantcolor.blogspot.com
has subscribers and students worldwide who crave her dances with color.

Elder Art Gallery – Daniel Bayless, New Paintings January and February. Bayless is a native of Texas and has lived and worked in New York City and currently maintains a studio in San Francisco. Our exhition contains all new paintings reflecting a new direction for the artist.